Managing collections of episodic media content

ABSTRACT

A media content management system that enables users to manage media content collections is disclosed. A media device is configured to receive requests to create media content collections for particular media content and, in response, to retrieve information related to the media content, and to generate one or more interfaces displaying information about created media content collections. In an embodiment, retrieving information related to a media content may include determining, for one or more episodes of the media content, whether the episode is available from various content sources, including both broadcast and broadband content sources. By enabling a media device to automatically retrieve and present information related to the availability of media content episodes across any number of different broadcast and broadband sources, users can more easily interact with and view information about particular media content of interest to the users.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS; BENEFIT CLAIM

This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S.Provisional Application 62/287,869, filed Jan. 27, 2016, the entirecontents of each are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposesas if fully set forth herein. The applicant hereby rescinds anydisclaimer of claim scope in the parent application(s) or theprosecution history thereof and advise the USPTO that the claims in thisapplication may be broader than any claim in the parent application(s).

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments relate generally to managing collections of episodic mediacontent by media devices.

BACKGROUND

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could bepursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previouslyconceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it shouldnot be assumed that any of the approaches described in this sectionqualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in thissection.

Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) and other media devices enable users torecord and view media content, among many other features. Typically, aDVR includes a hard disk drive or other integrated storage device onwhich media content items may be recorded. For example, if a userdesires to record a television program for later or repeated viewings,the user may provide input to the DVR instructing the DVR to record acopy of the television program. The user may then instruct the DVR toplay the recorded copy of the television program from local storage at alater time.

Many types of media content of interest to media users are episodic orseries-based, where a number of related episodes of the same mediacontent may be individually broadcast or otherwise made available toviewers over a span of months or years. For example, many televisionprograms are broadcast as a series of separate episodes over one orpossibly several seasons of episodes. As another example, a particularsports team may be associated with several broadcasted sporting eventsover a period of time corresponding to a sports season. If a userdesires to view and/or record one episode of such a media content, oftenthe user may also have an interest in other episodes of the same mediacontent. However, scheduling separate recordings for each individualepisode is an inconvenient task and may often result in missedrecordings or other difficulties. Furthermore, each episode of a mediacontent may be available at any given time from any of several differentcontent sources (e.g., television broadcasts, third-party streamingcontent providers, Video on Demand (VOD) libraries, etc.), furthermaking it difficult for users to readily find available episodes ofparticular media content of interest.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example system for managing collectionsof episodic media content, in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example media device, in accordance withone or more embodiments;

FIG. 3 depicts an example flow diagram for creating and causing displayof media content collections, in accordance with the disclosedembodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example interface for creating a media contentcollection based on a media content item, in accordance with thedisclosed embodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example interface for creating a media contentcollection from an overlay menu, in accordance with the disclosedembodiments;

FIG. 6 illustrates an interface that enables a user to configure one ormore settings related to a new media content collection, in accordancewith the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 7 illustrates an interface for viewing recordings associated with amedia content collection, in accordance with the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 8 illustrates an interface for viewing a personalized list ofepisodes of a media content collection, in accordance with the disclosedembodiments;

FIG. 9 illustrates an interface for viewing all episodes of a mediacontent collection, in accordance with the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 10 illustrates an interface including an interface element tomodify options of an existing media content collection, in accordancewith the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 11 illustrates an interface displaying information for a particularepisode of a media content collection and including an interface elementto modify settings of the corresponding media content collection, inaccordance with the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 12 illustrates an interface for modifying settings related to anexisting media content collection, in accordance with the disclosedembodiments;

FIG. 13 illustrates an interface for modifying recording settings for amedia content collection, in accordance with the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 14 illustrates an interface for managing recording conflictpriorities for a plurality of media content collections, in accordancewith the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 15 is block diagram of a computer system upon which embodiments ofthe invention may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however,that the present invention may be practiced without these specificdetails. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring thepresent invention.

Embodiments are described herein according to the following outline:

-   -   1.0. General Overview    -   2.0. Structural Overview    -   3.0. Functional Overview        -   3.1. Creating Media Content Collections        -   3.2. Displaying Media Content Collections        -   3.3. Configuring Media Content Collections    -   4.0. Example Embodiments    -   5.0. Implementation Mechanism—Hardware Overview    -   6.0. Extensions and Alternatives

1.0. General Overview

Approaches, techniques, and mechanisms are disclosed that enable usersof media devices to manage collections of media content that isepisodic, series-based, or otherwise multi-part. In this context, acollection of media content may include, for example, a number ofepisodes or separate media content items related an ongoing broadcasttelevision series, miniseries, on-demand media content series, series oftelevised sporting events, or any other type of media content.

According to an embodiment, a media device is configured to receiverequests to create media content collections for particular mediacontent and, in response, to retrieve information related to the mediacontent. The media device may be further configured to generate one ormore interfaces displaying information about created media contentcollections. In an embodiment, retrieving information related to a mediacontent may include determining, for each episode of the media content,whether the episode is available from various content sources, includingboth broadcast and broadband content sources. By enabling a media deviceto automatically retrieve and present information related to theavailability of media content episodes across any number of differentbroadcast and broadband sources, users can more easily interact with andview information about particular media content of interest to theusers.

As one example of when a user may desire to create a media contentcollection, consider a television program that has aired for severalseasons and which is scheduled to air one or more additional seasons inthe future. A media device user may become interested in the televisionprogram at some point during the run of the television program, forexample, after the user views one or more episodes of the televisionprogram, or in response to receiving a recommendation from a friend.According to embodiments described herein, in response to the user'sinterest in the television program, the user may use a media device tocreate a media content collection for the television program. Amongother features described herein, the media content collection may beconfigured to automatically record future episodes of the televisionprogram and to create various interfaces displaying information aboutrecorded episodes organized by season or other groupings. Furthermore,according to one embodiment, the media device may determine theavailability of past and/or future episodes of the television programfrom any of a number of broadcast and broadband content sources,including third-party streaming content providers (e.g., Netflix, AmazonPrime, Hulu, VUDU, etc.), Video on Demand (VOD) libraries, web-basedcontent, and any other available content sources. In this manner, mediacontent collections may be used to present a user's options for viewingepisodes of media content across past and future episodes, acrossdifferent seasons, and across any of a number of different contentsources, among other features.

In other aspects, the invention encompasses a computer apparatus and acomputer-readable medium configured to carry out the foregoingtechniques.

2.0. Structural Overview 2.1. System Overview

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example system 100 that may be used toimplement a media content management system, in accordance with one ormore embodiments. System 100 comprises one or more computing devices andthese one or more computing devices comprise any combination of hardwareand software configured to implement the various logical componentsdescribed herein. For example, the one or more computing devices mayinclude one or more memories storing instructions for implementing thevarious components described herein, one or more hardware processorsconfigured to execute the instructions stored in the one or morememories, and various data repositories in the one or more memories forstoring data structures utilized and manipulated by the variouscomponents.

In one embodiment, a system 100 includes one or more media devices 116,including media devices 116-1 and media devices 116-2. As used herein, amedia device 116 generally refers to any type of computing device thatis capable of receiving media content items, such as televisionprograms, movies, streaming content, video on demand (VOD) content,etc., from a cable signal, terrestrial signal, digital network-baseddata, etc. In FIG. 1, for example, a media device 116-1 may include aTV-tuner input that can be used to play, record, stream, and/orotherwise access media content items received from one or more contentsources 102. Content sources 102 generally may include broadcast contentsources and/or broadband content sources. For example, one contentsource 102 may include a live television broadcast feed that is providedby a cable operator. Other example content sources 102 include, but arenot limited to, Video On Demand (VOD) libraries, third party contentproviders (e.g., Netflix®, Amazon Prime®, etc.), web-based mediacontent, satellite broadcast content, terrestrial broadcast content,etc. Example media devices 116-1 include, but are not limited to, aset-top box (STB), digital video recorders (DVRs), personal computers,tablet computers, handheld devices, televisions, and other computingdevices.

In an embodiment, system 100 may further include one or more IP-enabledmedia devices 116-2. In general, an IP-enabled media device 116-2 mayrefer to any type of computing device that is capable of receiving mediacontent over one or more networks 114, such as the public Internet,intranet, LAN, WAN, etc., but which may or may not include a TV-tunerinput. Examples of media devices 116-2 include, without limitation,STBs, DVRs, personal computers, smartphones, tablets, laptops, gamedevices, media servers, digital media receivers, televisions,terrestrial antennas, etc. A typical user may own several media devices116, which may be located and used at various locations throughout theuser's home and elsewhere.

In an embodiment, media devices 116 are coupled to content sources 102,operator headends 104, service provider systems 110, and/or cloudstorage systems 112 via one or more networks 114. Networks 114 broadlyrepresent one or more cable networks, LANs, WANs, cellular networks(e.g., LTE, HSPA, 3G, older technologies, etc.), and/or internetworksusing any of wired, wireless, terrestrial microwave, or satellite links,and may include the public Internet. Furthermore, each media device 116may be coupled to one or more other media devices via one or morenetworks 114.

As described in more detail hereinafter, each media device 116 generallymay be configured to perform one or more actions related to mediacontent items, including receiving media content items from contentsources 102, playing media content items, scheduling recordings of mediacontent items, uploading all or portions of media content items to acloud storage system, streaming media content items to other mediadevices, etc. In an embodiment, a service provider system 110 generallymay provide content listing information, content availabilityinformation, and other information about media content items. A serviceprovider system 110 may also manage cloud-based storage of media contentitems and provide media devices controlled access to media content itemsvia one or more networks 114.

In an embodiment, an operator headend 104 generally represents a systemfor receiving and processing broadcast television signals and othermedia content signals from one or more content sources 102, and fordistributing media content based on the media content signals to mediadevices 116. As one example, an operator headend 104 may represent acable television headend that receives and processes signals (e.g.,received via satellite, coaxial cable, microwave link, fiber-optics, theInternet, etc.) from broadcast content sources 102, and distributes theprocessed video content to media devices 116 using a transmissioninfrastructure 106. Transmission infrastructure 106 generally mayinclude components capable of transmitting media content items using anynumber of encoding and transmission formats including, but not limitedto, quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), Advanced Television SystemsCommittee (ATSC), satellite, Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial(DVB-T), IP-based transmission over one or more networks, etc.

In one embodiment, an operator headend 104 may host one or more mediacontent management devices 108. In general, media content managementdevices 108 may include one or more computing devices and storagecomponents configured to store media content items and to provide accessto the media content items by media devices 116. In an embodiment, useraccounts associated with the media content management system may beprovided with an amount of storage at media content management devices108 to store media content items selected for recording. The useraccounts, for example, may be created and managed by a service providersystem 110, and each user account may be associated with one or moremedia devices 116 (e.g., based on a user account login at the mediadevices). Media content items stored at media content management devices108 may be delivered to media devices 116 by the operator headend 104using a transmission infrastructure 106.

In an embodiment, a media content management system may further includeone or more cloud storage systems 112. In general, a cloud storagesystem 112 represents a data storage system that is accessible to mediadevices 116 via one or more networks (e.g., a network 114) and istypically owned and managed by an entity other than a user of the mediadevice 116. In an embodiment, a cloud storage system 112 may be managedand operated by an operator of a service provider system 110, or a cloudstorage system 112 may be operated by a third-party entity. Examples ofthird-party cloud storage systems include Amazon Web Services (AWS),Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Storage, etc. Similar to storage availableat an operator headend 104, user accounts associated with a serviceprovider system 110 may be provided with an amount of storage space atcloud storage system 112. The amount of storage available to each useraccount at media content management devices 108 and/or cloud storagesystem 112 may be presented to users as a single pool of available datastorage or, in other examples, a user may be able to separately managestorage available at media content management devices 108 and at a cloudstorage system 112.

In one embodiment, a cloud storage system 112 generally may be used tostore media content items selected for recording by users of mediadevices 116 (e.g., as individual scheduled recordings or as part of amedia schedule associated with a media content collection). Mediacontent items stored in cloud storage system 112 may be made availableto users of media devices 116 until the media content items are selectedfor deletion by a user, exceed a cloud storage deletion policy, or basedon any other deletion policy. In one embodiment, media content receivedby the operator headend 104 from content sources 102 may be delivered tothe cloud storage system 112 via a fixed-bandwidth line to facilitatestorage of media content items selected for recording by users.

In an embodiment, a service provider system 110 comprises one or morecomputing devices generally configured to manage requests from mediadevices 116 (e.g., media content information and search requests,recording requests, playback requests, content deletion requests, pausepoint management across devices, etc.), and to manage storage of mediacontent items across one or more operator headends 104 and cloud storagesystems 112, among other services and features described herein.

Based on various factors, it may be more efficient at times to streamstored media content items to media devices 116 from media contentmanagement devices 108 at an operator headend 104 instead of from acloud storage system 112, and vice versa. For example, a transmissioninfrastructure 106 of an operator headend 104 typically may be morereliable and have greater bandwidth capacity than networks available fortransmitting media content items from a cloud storage system 112 tomedia devices 116. However, a transmission infrastructure 106 may not becapable of transmitting media content items to some types of mediadevices 116 (e.g., mobile devices that are not connected to thetransmission infrastructure 106) and some media content formats may notbe suitable for transmission by an operator headend 104. In these andother instances, for example, it generally may be more efficient tostream the media content items from a cloud storage system 112.

To facilitate streaming of media content items from either an operatorheadend 104 or cloud storage system 112 when appropriate, in oneembodiment, a service provider system 110 may be configured to determinewhich media content items to store at the operator headend 104, whichmedia content items to store at cloud storage systems 112, or both. Forexample, a service provider system 110 may determine which media contentitems selected for recording by one or more users are most likely to beviewed within a particular amount of time or with a particularfrequency. For media content items which it is determined are likely tobe watched soon after the items are selected for recording, for example,those items may be stored at the operator headend 104. Storage of theseitems at the operator headend 104, for example, may enable use of themore robust transmission infrastructure 106 for delivery of the mediacontent items to media devices 116. In contrast, media content itemsthat are determined to be unlikely to be viewed in the near future, orare likely to be viewed on media devices that are not connected to atransmission infrastructure 106, may be stored at a cloud storage system112.

Example criteria that a service provider system 110 may use to determinewhere to store media content items include information about particularmedia content items and historical data for one or more user accounts.For example, the criteria may include an age of the media content item(e.g., measured from an original air date), a user's recent viewingbehavior (e.g., whether the user recently watched an earlier episode inthe same series and from which device(s) the user viewed the episodes),an overall popularity of the media content items across all useraccounts, the aggregated viewing habits across media devices 116 in aparticular household, a rate at which a user is currently viewingepisodes in a series and the number of episodes remaining, etc.

In one embodiment, a service provider system 110 may use variouscriteria such as the example criteria described above to generate aweighting factor, also referred to herein as a relevancy factor, foreach media content item selected for recording by a user account. Forexample, a relevancy factor may indicate for each media content item alikelihood that a request to play the media content item is receivedwithin the next N days, or within some other time period. A relevancyfactor may be generated for each media content item relative to anentire populations of user accounts, a targeted group of user accounts,or for individual user accounts. In an embodiment, the relevancy factorsmay be used to determine where to store particular media content items(e.g., at an operator headend 104 and/or cloud storage system 112),video and/or audio formats in which to store particular media contentitems, bit rates at which to store and/or transmit particular mediacontent items, etc. In an embodiment, a relevancy factor may be used todetermine if and when to generate and store transcoded versions ofparticular media content. For example, if a user pauses a media contentitem being viewed in the user's home, depending on a relevancy factorassociated with the media content item, a transcoded version of themedia content item may be generated and stored in the cloud storagesystem 112, the transcoded version suitable for playing on a mobiledevice. As another example, depending on a relevancy factor, a serviceprovider system 110 may decide to maintain in storage only a single lowbitrate recording of the media content item if the media content item isdetermined unlikely to be watched in the near future.

As one example of how a media content management system 100 may managetransmission and storage of media content items, when a media device 116tunes to live media content (e.g., a live television stream), theselected media content may be provided to the media device 116 by anoperator headend 104 via a transmission infrastructure 106 (e.g., a QAMinfrastructure). If a user of the media device 116 pauses playback ofthe live media content, in one embodiment, a service provider system 110may cause a recording of the same media content to start at the operatorheadend 104 and/or at a cloud storage system 112. When the user resumesplayback of the media content item from the same media device 116 orfrom another media device 116 associated with the user's account, themedia content item may be streamed to the media device 116 via anIP-based network from either the operator headend 104 or cloud storagesystem 112. If the user subsequently catches up to the live point of themedia content item, the cloud-based media content management system 100may continue to stream the media content item to the media device 116via an IP-based network, or may instead resume transmission of the mediacontent item using the transmission infrastructure 106.

As another example of the media content management system 100 managingtransmission and storage of media content items, a service providersystem 110 may be configured to store at an operator headend 104 and/orcloud storage system 112 a “live buffer” of media content tuned to byone or more media devices 116. For example, each time a media device 116tunes to a receive a particular media content item, service providersystem 110 may start a recording of the media content item at operatorheadend 104 and/or cloud storage system 112, where the recording ismanaged as a rolling buffer of a configurable duration of time (e.g., 30minutes). The rolling buffer for a particular media content item may beautomatically deleted after a media device tunes to different mediacontent (e.g., in response to a channel change, selection of differentcontent from an electronic program guide (EPG), etc.), or the buffer maybe maintained in storage for a configurable period of time (e.g., 30minutes). If a user subsequently selects a particular media content itemto record, the rolling buffer can be used as part of the recordingstored for the user, among other uses.

Although FIG. 2 includes an operator headend 104 that receives mediacontent from content sources 102, distributes the media content to mediadevices 116, and that also may be a source of media content items storedin a cloud storage system 112, other implementations may not directlyinvolve an operator headend 104. In one embodiment, media devices 116may receive media content items from content sources 102 (e.g., via anoperator headend 104 or directly from a content source 102 via an IPnetwork) and the media content items may be uploaded from the mediadevices 116 to cloud storage. For example, the content sources 102 mayinclude providers of over-the-top content (OTT), video on demand (VOD),and other content that is transmitted to media devices 116 over theInternet and without the involvement of a cable or satellite televisionsystem operator. In this and other examples described herein, a serviceprovider system 110 may not directly interface with an operator headend104 to enable storage and access to media content items in cloudstorage.

System 100 illustrates only one of many possible arrangements ofcomponents configured to provide the functionality described herein.Other arrangements may include fewer, additional, or differentcomponents, and the division of work between the components may varydepending on the arrangement. Each component of system 100 may featurean open port, API, or other suitable communication interface by whichthe component may become communicatively coupled to other components ofsystem 100 as needed to accomplish any of the functions of system 100described herein.

2.2. Example Media Device

FIG. 2 illustrates an example block diagram of a media device inaccordance with one or more embodiments. As shown in FIG. 2, a mediadevice 116 may include multiple components such as a memory system 202,one or more storage devices 204, a central processing unit (CPU) 206, adisplay sub-system 208, an audio/video input 210, one or more inputdevices/tuners 212, a network module 214, an uploader module 216, and/orother components used to perform the functionality described herein. Inan embodiment, a media device 116 may be a DVR. A multifunction mediadevice is described U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/631,740,entitled “Multifunction Multimedia Device,” which is owned by theApplicant and is hereby fully incorporated by reference.

In an embodiment, storage devices 204 generally represent secondarystorage accessible by the media device 116. A storage device 204 mayinclude, but is not limited to, any combination of, one or more of:Solid State Drives (SSD), hybrid hard drives, hard drives, etc. Eachmedia device 116 may or may not include one or more storage devices 204.If a media device 116 includes a storage device 204, the storage may beused for various purposes including storing all or portions of recordedmedia content items, providing a buffer for media device tuners 212,pre-caching portions of media content items stored by a cloud storagesystem, etc.

In an embodiment, audio/video input 210 generally corresponds to anycomponent that includes functionality to receive audio and/or videoinput (e.g., HDMI, DVI, Analog, etc.) from an external source. Forexample, the audio/video input 210 may be a DisplayPort or a highdefinition multimedia interface (HDMI) that can receive input fromdifferent devices. The audio/video input 210 may receive input from aset-top box, DVR, a Blu-ray disc player, a personal computer, a videogame console, an audio/video receiver, a compact disk player, anenhanced versatile disc player, a high definition optical disc, aholographic versatile disc, a laser disc, mini disc, a disc film, a RAMdisc, a vinyl disc, a floppy disk, a hard drive disk, etc. A mediadevice 116 may include any number of audio/video inputs 210.

In an embodiment, input device/tuners 212 generally represents any inputcomponents that can receive a content stream (e.g., through cable,satellite, internet, network, terrestrial antenna, etc.). In a tunerconfiguration, input device/tuner 212 may allow one or more receivedfrequencies to pass through while filtering out others (e.g., by usingelectronic resonance, etc.). A television tuner, for example, mayconvert an RF television transmission into digital audio and videosignals which can be further processed to produce sound and/or an imageor accept digital signals such as MPEG2, MPEG4, etc. In an embodiment,each media device 116 may have one or more tuners (e.g., quadratureamplitude modulation (QAM) tuners, Digital Video Broadcasting-Cable(DVB-C) tuners, Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) tuners,etc.) for receiving live or on-demand television content from contentsources 102. A tuner can be a physical tuner or a virtual tuner thatrepresents an abstract perception of physical components used to receivebroadcast content.

In an embodiment, a network module 214 generally represents any inputcomponent that can send and receive data over a network (e.g., internet,intranet, world wide web, etc.). Examples of a network module 214include, but are not limited to, any of: a network card, networkadapter, network interface controller (NIC), network interface card,wireless card, Local Area Network adapter, Ethernet network card, anyother component that can send and receive information over a network,such as one or more networks 114. The network module 214 may also beused to directly connect with another device (e.g., a media device, acomputer, a secondary storage device, etc.).

In an embodiment, input may be received by a media device 116 from anycommunicatively coupled device through wired and/or wirelesscommunication segments. Input received by the media device 116 may bestored to the memory system 202 or storage device 204. The memory system202 may include one or more different types of physical memory to storedata. For example, one or more memory buffers (e.g., an HD frame buffer)in the memory system 202 may include storage capacity to load one ormore uncompressed high definition (HD) video frames for editing and/orfingerprinting. The memory system 202 may also store frames in acompressed form (e.g., MPEG2, MPEG4, or any other suitable format),where the frames are then uncompressed into the frame buffer formodification, fingerprinting, replacement, and/or display. The memorysystem 202 may include FLASH memory, DRAM memory, EEPROM, traditionalrotating disk drives, etc.

In an embodiment, central processing unit 206 may include functionalityto perform the functions described herein using any input received bythe media device 116. For example, the central processing unit 206 maybe used to dynamically derive fingerprints from media content framesstored in the memory system 202. The central processing unit 206 may beconfigured to mark or identify media content or portions of mediacontent based on tags, hash values, fingerprints, time stamp, or othersuitable information associated with the media content. The centralprocessing unit 206 may be used to modify media content (e.g., scale avideo frame, etc.), analyze media content, decompress media content,compress media content, etc. A video frame (e.g., an HD video frame, 4Kframe, etc.) stored in a frame buffer may be modified dynamically by thecentral processing unit 206 to overlay additional content (e.g.,information about the frame, program info, a chat message, systemmessage, web content, pictures, an electronic programming guide, videocontent, textual content, or any other suitable content) on top of thevideo frame, manipulate the video frame (e.g., stretching, rotation,shrinking, etc.), or replace the video frame in real time. Accordingly,an electronic programming guide, advertisement information that isdynamically selected, media content information, or any othertext/graphics may be written onto a video frame stored in a frame bufferto superimpose the additional content on top of the stored video frame.The central processing unit 206 may be used for processing communicationwith any of the input and/or output devices associated with the mediadevice 116. For example, a video frame that is dynamically modified inreal time may subsequently be transmitted for display. The centralprocessing unit 206 may be used to communicate with other media devicesto perform functions related to synchronization, publication of data,etc.

In an embodiment, the display sub-system 208 generally represents anysoftware and/or device that includes functionality to output (e.g.,Video Out to Display 218) and/or actually display one or more images.Examples of display devices include a kiosk, a hand held device, acomputer screen, a monitor, a television, projector, etc. The displaydevices may use different types of screens or display technology such asa liquid crystal display, cathode ray tube, a projector, a plasmascreen, etc. The output from the media device 116 may be specially forformatted for the type of display device being used, the size of thedisplay device, resolution (e.g., 720i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, or othersuitable resolution), etc. However, some media devices 116 may not haveany display output components (e.g., a media device primarily configuredto stream media content items to other media devices).

3.0. Functional Overview

Approaches, techniques, and mechanisms are disclosed that enable a mediadevice to create media content collections and to generate one or moreinterfaces displaying information related to created media contentcollections. For example, a media device (e.g., a media device 116) maygenerate and cause display of various user interfaces that enable usersto create media content collections for media content of interest to theusers (e.g., television programs, miniseries, streaming content series,sports teams, etc.), to modify various settings related to the way inwhich the media device manages media content collections, and to viewmedia content collections in ways that enable users to easily browse andinteract with the contents of each collection. In one embodiment, amedia device may be configured to create media device collections inpart by determining the availability of individual media contentepisodes for playback, streaming, and/or recording from a variety ofbroadcast and broadband sources, and presenting those content sourceoptions to users, thereby increasing the ease with which users can viewepisodes of media content of interest.

In an embodiment, each of the processes described in this section may beimplemented using one or more computer programs, other softwareelements, and/or digital logic in any combination of general-purposecomputing devices or a special-purpose computing devices, whileperforming data retrieval, transformation, and storage operations thatinvolve interacting with and transforming the physical state of memoryof the computing devices(s). In some embodiments, the processes areimplemented in a system comprising media devices (e.g., DVRs, set-topboxes, personal computers, mobile devices, etc.) which may receive,play, record, and/or store media content items and a service providersystem which manages user access to media content items. In otherembodiments, the processes are implemented exclusively by one or moreservers or by a single client computing device. Examples of such systemsare described in the preceding sections.

FIG. 3 depicts an example flow diagram for creating media contentcollections and causing display of one or more graphical user interfacesdisplaying media content collection information. Steps shown in FIG. 3may be rearranged or omitted. Furthermore, additional steps not shown inFIG. 3 may be performed in accordance with one or more embodiments.Accordingly, the selection or arrangement of steps shown in FIG. 3should not be construed as limiting.

3.1. Creating Media Content Collections

At block 302, a media device receives a request to retrieve informationfor a media content associated with a plurality of episodes. In oneembodiment, the request to retrieve the information for a media contentmay be associated with a user request to create a media contentcollection for the media content. Examples of media content for which auser may request a media device to create a media content collectioninclude, but are not limited to, television programs, miniseries, sportsteams, sports seasons, podcasts, or any other type of media contentaccessible to a media device.

In an embodiment, a media device may receive a request to create a mediacontent collection in response to a user providing input directly at themedia device (e.g., using a touchscreen) or using a device incommunication with the media device (e.g., a remote control or otherinput device). For example, if the user is browsing an EPG and discoversa particular television program for which the user desires to create amedia content collection, the user may provide input selecting thetelevision program and further provide input to create a media contentcollection for the selected television program. As another example, auser may be watching a sporting event involving a particular sports teamand desire to create a media content collection for the particularsports team. In this example, the user may provide input while the useris viewing the sporting event indicating a desire to create a mediacontent collection for the particular sports team.

Each of FIGS. 4-6 illustrate various graphical user interfaces thatenable media device users to create media content collections. In someof the example interfaces, a media content collection may also bereferred to as a “OnePass”.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example interface 402 that enables a user tocreate a media content collection after selection of a particular amedia content from an EPG, search results listing, or any otherinterface. In FIG. 4, for example, an interface 402 displays variousmenu options 404, a media content collection creation button 406, alongwith other information related to the television program “Doctor Who”.

In an embodiment, menu options 404 include various actions related tothe selected media content, including displaying information aboutupcoming episodes of the media content, information about all episodes,cast information, bonus features, etc. The interface 402 furtherincludes a media content collection creation button 406, which may beany selectable interface element to indicate a desire to create a newmedia content collection for the currently displayed media content. Inan embodiment, a user may provide further input to indicate whether tocreate the media content collection with a set of default configurationsettings (e.g., by clicking on the “Create a OnePass” button 406), or auser may provide other input to create the media content collection witha set of customizable settings (e.g., by clicking on the “Options”button adjacent to the creation button 406). Examples of settings that auser can customize when creating a media content collections aredescribed hereinafter with respect to FIG. 6.

FIG. 5 illustrates another example interface that enables a user tocreate a media content collection. In the interface 502 of FIG. 5, forexample, an overlay menu 504 is displayed for a particular media content(in this example, representing a basketball game between the OklahomaCity Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers). The overlay menu 504 may bedisplayed, for example, in response to a user requesting information fora currently playing media content, selecting a media content episodefrom an EPG or search results, etc. The overlay menu 504 includesvarious menu options, including an option to record the selected mediacontent episode, an option to create a media content collection for theassociated media content, and an option to present additionalinformation about the media content. Similar to FIG. 4, a user mayselect the option to create a media content collection and providefurther input to either create the collection with a set of defaultsettings or to create the collection with one or more customizedsettings.

Referring again to FIG. 3, at block 304, a media device optionallyreceives input specifying one or more settings for the media contentcollection. As indicated above, during creation of a media contentcollection, a user may configure one or more settings to determine howthe media device manages the collection for the selected media content.A user may specify different settings for each separate media contentcollection created by the user, where the different settings may dependon various user preferences for each different media content. Forexample, if a particular television program is of high interest to auser, the user may configure a media content collection for thetelevision program with settings to keep a stored recording of allepisodes, while the same user may configure another media contentcollection to keep only the three most recent recordings for a differenttelevision program of lesser interest to the user.

FIG. 6 illustrates an interface 602 that enables a user to configure oneor more settings for a new media content collection. The interface 602includes media content collection settings 604, which may be displayed,for example, in response to a user selecting the “Options” buttonsdepicted in FIG. 4, in response to selecting a similar interface elementof the overlay menu 504 in FIG. 5, or from any other interface.

In one embodiment, settings for a media content collection may includean option to indicate whether to include in the collection onlyrecordable episodes (e.g., episodes available from one or more contentsources that allow the media device to create recorded copies of theepisodes), only streaming episodes (e.g., episodes available from one ormore third party streaming providers, VOD libraries, or other broadbandsources), or to include both recordable and streaming episodes. Forexample, a user may desire to include only recordable episodes for aparticular media content collection if the user desires to not viewstreaming episodes of the media content. As another example, a user maydesire to include only streaming episodes in order to reduce an amountof storage space at the media device used by the particular collection.As yet another example, a user may desire to include both recordable andstreaming episodes of a media content in order to include as manyepisodes as possible in the collection.

In an embodiment, settings for a media content collection may include anoption for specifying a particular starting season from which to collectepisodes for a media content. For example, if a particular televisionprogram currently includes six seasons of episodes and a user haspreviously viewed the first two seasons, the user may configure themedia content collection to include only episodes from the third andsubsequent seasons. As another example, if the user has not yet viewedepisodes from any of the seasons, the user may configure the mediacontent collection to include episodes from all available seasons.

In an embodiment, settings for a media content collection may include anoption to include transactional episodes of the media content, wheretransactional episodes include episodes available for purchase or rentfrom one or more content sources. For example, a user may specify anoption to include transactional episodes for a particular media contentcollection corresponding to a particular television program, where someof the episodes of the television program are available only forpurchase or rent from one or more content sources. In this example, themedia content collection may display the transactional episodesalongside other episodes the television program, and the user may beprompted to purchase or rent the episodes upon selection of atransactional episode. The user may be prompted to purchase or rentselected transactional episodes directly in a media content collectioninterface, or the user may be directed to purchase or rent the episodesin a separate interface provided by a content source of thetransactional episodes.

In an embodiment, settings for a media content collection may include anoption of whether to record only new episodes, or to record both newepisodes and repeat episodes. In an embodiment, settings for a mediacontent collection may include an option of one or more particularbroadcast channels from which to record episodes. For example, multiplebroadcast channels may broadcast a particular television program and auser may select one or more of the channels from which the user prefersto record and view the episodes. In an embodiment, if any broadbandsources allow the media device to record media content, a user mayfurther select one or more broadband content sources to include.

In an embodiment, settings for a media content collection may include anoption to record shows based on various available resolutions (e.g.,only in high-definition (HD), only in standard-definition (SD), in HDwhen available and SD otherwise, etc.). In an embodiment, settings for amedia content collection may further include other various recordingoptions, including an option to specify a total number of recordings tostore for the media content, an option to specify how long to storerecordings (e.g., one week, one month, until storage space is needed,etc.), and/or options for when to start and when to end recordings ofepisodes relative to times specified in an EPG or other source. Forexample, a user may configure the recording settings depending on anamount of storage space available to the user and depending on how muchof the storage space the user desires the particular media content touse.

3.2. Displaying Media Content Collections

In an embodiment, in response to receiving input to create a mediacontent collection, a media device may cause data representing the mediacontent collection to be stored at the user's media device, at a serviceprovider system 110, or at any other storage location. In general, datarepresenting the media content collection may include informationidentifying the media content to which the collection relates,information indicating one or more settings associated with thecollection, information identifying the user that created the collectionand/or a media device at which the collection was created, etc. In anembodiment, based on the data representing created media contentcollections, a media device may be configured to generate and causedisplay one or more graphical user interfaces that enable users to viewand interact with created media content collections.

Referring again to FIG. 3, at block 306, the media device determines,for each episode of one or more episodes of the media content, whetherthe episode is available from one or more content sources of a set ofcontent sources, the set of content sources including both broadcastsources and broadband sources. For example, if the media content is atelevision program that includes a number of individual episodes, themedia device may determine one or more content sources from which one ormore of the episodes is available. In an embodiment, a media device maydetermine content sources from which episodes are available during theinitial creation of the media content collection, in response toreceiving a user request to view information about a media contentcollection, in response to receiving a user request to view informationabout one or more particular episodes, on a periodic basis, or at anyother time.

In one embodiment, a media device may request information about contentsources from which episodes of a media content are available from aservice provider system 110, directly from one or more content sources102, or from any other source. A service provider system 110 may, forexample, maintain a database of media content items and from whichcontent source(s) each episode of various media content is available.For example, the service provider system 110 may retrieve and collectthe information from a third-party service that maintains contentlistings and other data for media content. In another example, theservice provider system 110 may collect information for some or allmedia content by directly querying one or more content sources forinformation about various media content. In yet another example, a mediadevice 116 may determine the availability of one or more episodes fromone or more content sources by querying the content sources and withoutrequesting the information from a service provider system 110.

At block 308, the media device causes display of a graphical userinterface that, for at least one episode of the plurality of episodes,indicates from which of one or more content sources the at least oneepisode is available. For example, as described above in reference toblock 306, a media device may be configured to retrieve informationrelated to the availability of episodes of a media content from variouscontent sources, and the retrieved information may subsequently bedisplayed in response to a user requesting display of the media contentcollection, along with other information.

In an embodiment, a user may request to view a media content collectionfrom any of a number of different interfaces including an interfacedisplaying a list of created media content collections, from an EPG, asearch results listing, etc. A media device may be configured to displayone or more different views for a media content collection depending onhow the user desires to view the contents of a particular collection.For example, a media device may be configured to display one or more ofa “recordings” view (displaying recorded episodes of a media contentcollection), a “my episodes” view (displaying a personalized view ofepisodes of a media content collection), an “all episodes” view(displaying all available episodes of a media content collection), amongother possible views.

FIG. 7 illustrates an interface for viewing recorded episodes associatedwith a media content collection. For example, a recordings view maydisplay episodes of a particular media content that the media device hasrecorded at the media device (or caused to be recorded in a cloud-basedrecording system or other storage location) based on recording settingsassociated with the collection. The interface 702 of FIG. 7 includes arecorded episodes list 704, which in this example displays a list ofrecorded episodes for the television program “Scandal”. Each of therecorded episodes in the list may further display information indicatinga title of the episode, whether the episode previously has been played,how much of the episode has been played, a date when the episodeoriginally aired, a date when the episode was recorded, etc. In anembodiment, a user may select one or more episodes from the recordepisodes list 804 for playback, deletion, or to display additionalinformation related to the selected episodes.

In one embodiment, a media device may include a personalized view, or“my episodes” view, of a media content collection, which includes bothrecordings of episodes and other episodes available for streaming fromone or more user-configured broadband content sources. FIG. 8illustrates an interface for viewing a personalized media contentcollection display. The interface 802 of FIG. 8 includes a personalizedepisodes list 804, which in this example corresponds to a list ofepisodes for the television program “Scandal”. In an embodiment,personalized episodes list 804 may display various information relatedto each episode, including whether the episode is recorded (e.g., bydisplaying a circle next to the episode) and/or available for streamingfrom one or more user-configured broadband content sources (e.g., bydisplaying a signal icon), a title of the episode, a season number andepisode number, etc.

In one embodiment, a media device may include an “all episodes” view,which displays all available episodes of a media content, includingepisodes which may be available from broadband content sources not yetconfigured by a user, episodes to be broadcast in the future, andepisodes not yet available from any broadcast or broadband sources butwhich may become available at a future time. FIG. 9 illustrates anexample interface 902 for viewing an “all episodes” display of a mediacontent collection. The interface 902 of FIG. 9 includes all episodeslist 904 which, similar to personalized episodes list 804 of FIG. 8, maydisplay various information related to each episode including whetherthe episode is recorded, available for streaming, or not currentlyavailable from any content source, a title for the episode, etc.

In one embodiment, a media content collection interface may include acontent sources list 906, where the content sources list displays aseparate icon or other identifier for each content source from which thecurrently selected episode in episodes list 904 is available. In FIG. 9,for example, the episode of the television program “Scandal” entitled“Sweet Baby” is currently selected in episodes list 904, and the contentsources list 906 indicates that the selected episode is currentlyavailable from the Amazon, Netflix, and Vudu broadband streaming contentsources. If the selected episode was also available from any broadcastcontent sources (e.g., ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.), a separate icon may also bedisplayed for each broadcast content source. A different content sourceslist 906 may be displayed for each episode when an episode is selectedfrom episodes list 904 depending on the content source(s) from whicheach episode is available. In one embodiment, content sources list 906may display only content sources configured by and available to thecurrent user, or a content sources list 906 may display all knowncontent sources from which the selected episode is available. In oneembodiment, content sources list 906 may display content sourceidentifiers differently depending on whether the content source iscurrently available to the user (e.g., by displaying normal icons foravailable content sources and grayed out icons for currently unavailablecontent sources). In an embodiment, icons or other identifiers displayedin content sources list 906 may be sorted based on popularity of thecontent sources, based on frequency of use of each content source by thecurrent user, based on whether the episodes are available astransactional episodes or not from each content source, based oninformation about the quality of video available from each contentsource, or based on any other factors.

In an embodiment, as depicted in each of the example interfacesdescribed above in reference to FIGS. 7-9 and in other displays, a mediadevice may be configured to display episodes of a media contentcollection according to seasons. For example, referring again to FIG. 9,a user may select a particular season number from the seasons labeled1-5 above all episodes list 904 to view episodes associated with aparticular season. By displaying episodes grouped into seasons, usersmay more easily navigate media content collections, particularly formedia content associated with a large number of episodes.

In one embodiment, a media content collection interface may beconfigured to display one or more notifications when a new episodeand/or new season of episodes becomes available from one or more contentsources. For example, when a media content collection initially iscreated for a particular television program, one or more episodes of thetelevision program may not be available from any broadcast or broadbandcontent sources, or may not be available from any content sources towhich the current user has access (e.g., because the user is not asubscriber to one or more content sources). However, at a later time,one or more third party streaming content providers or other contentsources may make the previously unavailable episodes available forstreaming. In one embodiment, in response to the media device detectingthat the previously unavailable episodes of a media content are nowavailable, or are soon to be available, the media device may display oneor more alerts to the user. For example, an alert may include a pop-upmessage, an icon or message displayed in a media content collectiondisplay screen, an email or text alert sent to the user, or any otherform of notification. The user may then select the alert or otherwisenavigate to a media content collection screen to view the newlyavailable episodes. In an embodiment, a media content collection may beconfigured to display a similar alert if one or more previouslyavailable episodes and/or seasons of a media content become unavailablefrom one or more content sources or are soon to become available.

In an embodiment, a user may select one or more episodes of a mediacontent collection for playback (e.g., by selecting the episode(s) fromone of the episode lists illustrated above or from any other interface).If a user selects a recorded episode from a recorded episodes list, forexample, the user may provide further input to cause playback of theepisode, to view additional information about the episode, to delete therecorded episode, or to perform other actions. If a user selects anepisode that is available for streaming from one or more broadbandcontent sources, the content may be displayed in the same interfaceduring playback, or the user may be directed to another application forplaying content from the broadband content source. In an embodiment,some episodes may be available from two or more different broadbandcontent sources, and a user may be prompted to choose a particularcontent source from which to stream the selected episode(s). In oneembodiment, a user may select a group of episodes, an entire season, oran entire media content collection for playback, and each of theselected episodes may be caused for playback in succession.

3.3. Configuring Media Content Collections

In an embodiment, a media device may provide one or more graphical userinterfaces for configuring options related to one or more previouslycreated media content collections and/or to configure a set of defaultconfiguration options for media content collections to be created in thefuture. FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate example interfaces from which a usermay navigate to one or more other interfaces to modify settings for anexisting media content collection. For example, FIG. 10 illustrates anexample interface 1002 displaying a collection of several recordedepisodes of the television program “Scandal” and that includes a modifycollection settings button 1004. FIG. 11 illustrates a similar interface1102 displaying information for a single episode of a television programand including a modify collection settings button 1104. A user viewingeither interface 1002, 1102, or a similar interface may select a modifycollection settings button, for example, if the user desires to modifyone or more settings associated with a collection for the currentlydisplayed media content.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example interface for configuring options relatedto an existing media content collection. FIG. 12 includes media contentcollection settings 1204 with various configurable settings related to amedia content collection. Similar to the settings displayed in FIG. 6,media content collection settings 1204 may include options to indicatewhether to include recorded episodes, streaming episodes, or both, aparticular season from which to start the collection, whether to includetransactional episodes, etc. In an embodiment, collection settings 1204may provide menu options to keep the previously existing collectionsettings without change, to cancel or delete the media contentcollection, to pause the media content collection (e.g., to maintain thecurrent state of the media content collection without adding additionalepisodes), to use the newly configured settings, etc.

A user of a media device may create any number of separate media contentcollections for media content items of interest to the user. Forexample, a user may create a separate media content collection forseveral different television programs, several other media contentcollections for sports teams of interest to the user, another mediacontent collection for streaming movies the user desires to watch, etc.In an embodiment, to enable users to manage any number of separate mediacontent collections created by the users, a media device may provide oneor more interfaces that enable users to manage and/or configure createdmedia content collections in one place. For example, in one embodiment,a media device may provide a media content collection managementinterface, where the collection management interface displays a list ofa user's created media content collections and other relatedinformation. A user can use the collection management interface toselect one or more media content collections for more information, forplayback of episodes within a collection, for deletion of thecollection, etc.

In one embodiment, a media device may provide one or more interfacesthat enable a user to configure one or more default settings for mediacontent collections created by the user. FIG. 13 illustrates an exampleinterface 1302 that includes default settings 1304. In one embodiment,default settings 1304 include a number of user configurable options tobe applied to newly created media content collections as a set ofdefault settings. Similar to settings 1204 of FIG. 12 and settings 604of FIG. 6, a user may configure collection settings 1304 to indicatewhether media content collections are to include recordable episodesonly, streaming episodes only, or include both, whether to includetransactional episodes, whether to record only new episodes or new andrepeat episodes, etc.

In one embodiment, a media device may enable users to configure apriority for media content collections to resolve recording conflictsthat may occur between media content collections. For example, a usermay configure several separate media content collections, each with aseparate recording schedule for episodes associated with the collection.Depending on a number of tuners available to a media device, the mediadevice may encounter situations in which there are more scheduledrecordings than tuners available to record the episodes. To ensure thata user's most preferred media content collections are given recordingpreference in such situations, a user may create a rank ordered prioritylist of configured media content collections, where media contentcollections higher in the priority list are selected for recording overcollections lower in the priority list in the event of recordingconflicts. In one embodiment, in the instance of a recording conflict,for example, episodes of media content lower in the priority list maynot be recorded, the episodes may be scheduled for recording by anothermedia device with available tuners, and/or the episodes may berescheduled for recording by a cloud-based recording system.

FIG. 14 illustrates an interface for managing recording priorities for aplurality of media content collections. The interface 1402 of FIG. 14includes a recording priority list 1404, which includes a list ofseveral media content collections numbered 1-12. For example, the mediacontent collection corresponding to the television program “The GoodWife” is currently at the top of the priority list 1404, followed by“The Great British Baking Show”, “Homeland”, and so forth. Thus, thecurrent recording priority list 1404 indicates that the collection forthe “The Good Wife” has recording priority over the other collectionsnumbered 2-12, and “The Great British Baking Show” has recordingpriority over collections numbered 3-12, and so forth. In an embodiment,a user may select media content collections from the priority list 1404and move the collections up or down in the list to change the priorityordering.

In an embodiment, settings for media content collections may include oneor more interfaces for configuring broadband content sources from whichmedia content items may be accessed. For example, the broadband contentsources may include third party streaming content providers, VODlibraries, or other content sources for which the user has an account(e.g., because the user paid for a subscription to the provider) orwhich do not require a paid subscription. A user may configure one ormore broadband sources by providing account information and any otherrelevant configuration information. In one embodiment, a user may alsoselect and unselect particular configured broadband content sourceswhich the user desires the media device to collect episodes. Forexample, if a user has access to a particular broadband source but doesnot desire media content collection to collect episodes from theparticular broadband source, the user may deselect the source in theconfiguration settings.

In an embodiment, a media device may provide one or more interfaces forcollecting streaming movies or other non-episodic media content from oneor more broadband content sources. For example, a user may select amovie or other non-episodic content from a list of search results, EPG,or other interface and further provide input to add the non-episodiccontent to a particular streaming content folder. In an embodiment, auser may be able to view media content saved in a streaming contentfolder similar to viewing media content collections for other mediacontent.

4.0. Example Embodiments

In an embodiment, a method or non-transitory computer readable mediumcomprises: receiving, by a media device, a request to retrieveinformation for a media content associated with a plurality of episodes;determining, for each episode of the plurality of episodes, whether theepisode is available from one or more content sources of a set ofcontent sources, the set of content sources including both broadcastcontent sources and broadband content sources; causing display of agraphical user interface that displays an identifier of two or moreepisodes of the plurality of episodes and, for at least one episode ofthe plurality of episodes, an indication of content sources of the setof content sources from which the at least one episode is available forplayback by the media device.

In an embodiment, the method or non-transitory computer readable mediumfurther comprises: wherein the graphical user interface furtherindicates, for at least one episode of the plurality of episodes, thatthe at least one episode has been recorded and is stored locally by themedia device.

In an embodiment, the method or non-transitory computer readable mediumfurther comprises: receiving a selection of a particular episode of theplurality of episodes; causing display of a separate icon representingeach content source of the set of content sources from which theparticular episode is available for playback by the media device.

In an embodiment, the method or non-transitory computer readable mediumfurther comprises: determining that the at least one episode isavailable from one or more broadband content sources; subsequent todetermining that the at least one episode is available from one or morebroadband content sources, determining that the at least one episode isno longer available from at least one broadband content source of theone or more broadband content sources; causing display of an alertindicating that the at least one episode is no longer available from theat least one broadband content source of the one or more broadbandcontent sources.

In an embodiment, the method or non-transitory computer readable mediumfurther comprises: recording, by the media device, at least one episodeof the media content for storage by the media device.

In an embodiment, the method or non-transitory computer readable mediumfurther comprises: causing recording of at least one episode of the showfor storage by a cloud storage system.

In an embodiment, the method or non-transitory computer readable mediumfurther comprises: causing recording, by the media device, at least oneepisode of the show for storage by a cloud storage system; wherein thegraphical user interface displays an indicating that the at least oneepisode is stored by the cloud storage system.

In an embodiment, the method or non-transitory computer readable mediumfurther comprises: receiving from the user an indication of a season tobegin collection; wherein the graphical user interface displays onlyepisodes from the selected season and subsequent seasons.

In an embodiment, the method or non-transitory computer readable mediumfurther comprises: wherein the one or more broadband content sourcescomprise broadband content sources configured by a user of the mediadevice.

In an embodiment, the method or non-transitory computer readable mediumfurther comprises: determining the media content collection includes oneor more episodes that are not currently available from any of the one ormore broadband content sources; monitoring the one or more broadbandcontent sources for the availability of any of the one or more episodes;in response to detecting the availability of any of the one or moreepisodes, causing display of an alert.

5.0. Implementation Mechanism—Hardware Overview

According to one embodiment, the techniques described herein areimplemented by one or more special-purpose computing devices. Thespecial-purpose computing devices may be hard-wired to perform thetechniques, or may include digital electronic devices such as one ormore application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs) that are persistently programmed toperform the techniques, or may include one or more general purposehardware processors programmed to perform the techniques pursuant toprogram instructions in firmware, memory, other storage, or acombination. Such special-purpose computing devices may also combinecustom hard-wired logic, ASICs, or FPGAs with custom programming toaccomplish the techniques. The special-purpose computing devices may bedesktop computer systems, portable computer systems, handheld devices,networking devices or any other device that incorporates hard-wiredand/or program logic to implement the techniques.

For example, FIG. 15 is a block diagram that illustrates a computersystem 1500 upon which an embodiment of the invention may beimplemented. Computer system 1500 includes a bus 1502 or othercommunication mechanism for communicating information, and a hardwareprocessor 1504 coupled with bus 1502 for processing information.Hardware processor 1504 may be, for example, a general purposemicroprocessor.

Computer system 1500 also includes a main memory 1506, such as a randomaccess memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus 1502for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor1504. Main memory 1506 also may be used for storing temporary variablesor other intermediate information during execution of instructions to beexecuted by processor 1504. Such instructions, when stored innon-transitory storage media accessible to processor 1504, rendercomputer system 1500 into a special-purpose machine that is customizedto perform the operations specified in the instructions.

Computer system 1500 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 1508 orother static storage device coupled to bus 1502 for storing staticinformation and instructions for processor 1504. A storage device 1510,such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, is provided and coupled to bus1502 for storing information and instructions.

Computer system 1500 may be coupled via bus 1502 to a display 1512, suchas a cathode ray tube (CRT), for displaying information to a computeruser. An input device 1514, including alphanumeric and other keys, iscoupled to bus 1502 for communicating information and command selectionsto processor 1504. Another type of user input device is cursor control1516, such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys forcommunicating direction information and command selections to processor1504 and for controlling cursor movement on display 1512. This inputdevice typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis(e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specifypositions in a plane.

Computer system 1500 may implement the techniques described herein usingcustomized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware and/orprogram logic which in combination with the computer system causes orprograms computer system 1500 to be a special-purpose machine. Accordingto one embodiment, the techniques herein are performed by computersystem 1500 in response to processor 1504 executing one or moresequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 1506.Such instructions may be read into main memory 1506 from another storagemedium, such as storage device 1510. Execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in main memory 1506 causes processor 1504 toperform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments,hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination withsoftware instructions.

The term “storage media” as used herein refers to any non-transitorymedia that store data and/or instructions that cause a machine tooperation in a specific fashion. Such storage media may comprisenon-volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatile media includes,for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 1510.Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 1506. Commonforms of storage media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexibledisk, hard disk, solid state drive, magnetic tape, or any other magneticdata storage medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical data storage medium,any physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, aFLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, any other memory chip or cartridge.

Storage media is distinct from but may be used in conjunction withtransmission media. Transmission media participates in transferringinformation between storage media. For example, transmission mediaincludes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including thewires that comprise bus 1502. Transmission media can also take the formof acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-waveand infra-red data communications.

Various forms of media may be involved in carrying one or more sequencesof one or more instructions to processor 1504 for execution. Forexample, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk orsolid state drive of a remote computer. The remote computer can load theinstructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over atelephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system 1500 canreceive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitterto convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector canreceive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriatecircuitry can place the data on bus 1502. Bus 1502 carries the data tomain memory 1506, from which processor 1504 retrieves and executes theinstructions. The instructions received by main memory 1506 mayoptionally be stored on storage device 1510 either before or afterexecution by processor 1504.

Computer system 1500 also includes a communication interface 1518coupled to bus 1502. Communication interface 1518 provides a two-waydata communication coupling to a network link 1520 that is connected toa local network 1522. For example, communication interface 1518 may bean integrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem,satellite modem, or a modem to provide a data communication connectionto a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example,communication interface 1518 may be a local area network (LAN) card toprovide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wirelesslinks may also be implemented. In any such implementation, communicationinterface 1518 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or opticalsignals that carry digital data streams representing various types ofinformation.

Network link 1520 typically provides data communication through one ormore networks to other data devices. For example, network link 1520 mayprovide a connection through local network 1522 to a host computer 1524or to data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP)1526. ISP 1526 in turn provides data communication services through theworld wide packet data communication network now commonly referred to asthe “Internet” 1528. Local network 1522 and Internet 1528 both useelectrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital datastreams. The signals through the various networks and the signals onnetwork link 1520 and through communication interface 1518, which carrythe digital data to and from computer system 1500, are example forms oftransmission media.

Computer system 1500 can send messages and receive data, includingprogram code, through the network(s), network link 1520 andcommunication interface 1518. In the Internet example, a server 1530might transmit a requested code for an application program throughInternet 1528, ISP 1526, local network 1522 and communication interface1518.

The received code may be executed by processor 1504 as it is received,and/or stored in storage device 1510, or other non-volatile storage forlater execution.

In an embodiment, some or all of the systems described herein may be orcomprise server computer systems, including one or more server computerdevices that collectively implement various components of the system asa set of server-side processes. The server computer systems may includeweb server, application server, database server, and/or otherconventional server components that the depicted components utilize toprovide the described functionality. The server computer systems mayreceive network-based communications comprising input data from any of avariety of sources, including without limitation user-operated clientcomputing devices such as desktop computers, tablets, or smartphones,remote sensing devices, and/or other server computer systems.

In an embodiment, certain server components may be implemented in fullor in part using “cloud”-based components that are coupled to thesystems by one or more networks, such as the Internet. The cloud-basedcomponents may expose interfaces by which they provide processing,storage, software, and/or other resources to other components of thesystems. In an embodiment, the cloud-based components may be implementedby third third-party entities, on behalf of another entity for whom thecomponents are deployed. In other embodiments, however, the describedsystems may be implemented entirely by computer systems owned andoperated by a single entity.

6.0. Extensions and Alternatives

As used herein, the terms “first,” “second,” “certain,” and “particular”are used as naming conventions to distinguish queries, plans,representations, steps, objects, devices, or other items from eachother, so that these items may be referenced after they have beenintroduced. Unless otherwise specified herein, the use of these termsdoes not imply an ordering, timing, or any other characteristic of thereferenced items.

In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have beendescribed with reference to numerous specific details that may vary fromimplementation to implementation. Thus, the sole and exclusive indicatorof what is the invention, and is intended by the applicants to be theinvention, is the set of claims that issue from this application, in thespecific form in which such claims issue, including any subsequentcorrection. In this regard, although specific claim dependencies are setout in the claims of this application, it is to be noted that thefeatures of the dependent claims of this application may be combined asappropriate with the features of other dependent claims and with thefeatures of the independent claims of this application, and not merelyaccording to the specific dependencies recited in the set of claims

Any definitions expressly set forth herein for terms contained in suchclaims shall govern the meaning of such terms as used in the claims.Hence, no limitation, element, property, feature, advantage or attributethat is not expressly recited in a claim should limit the scope of suchclaim in any way. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to beregarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

1-30. (canceled)
 31. A method for presenting availability information,the method comprising: determining a plurality of content sources fromwhich a content item is available for consumption; determining, based onfrequency of use of each content source of the plurality of contentsources by a user, an order of the plurality of content sources; andgenerating for display an identifier of the content item and a pluralityof respective identifiers of the plurality of content sources, whereinthe respective identifiers are arranged in the determined order.
 32. Themethod of claim 31, further comprising: determining that the contentitem is unavailable from a content source of the plurality of contentsources; and visually distinguishing an icon corresponding to thecontent source to indicate unavailability from the content source. 33.The method of claim 32, wherein visually distinguishing the iconcomprises graying out the icon.
 34. The method of claim 31, wherein thegenerating for display comprises generating for display the plurality ofthe respective identifiers on a device of the user.
 35. A method forpresenting availability information, the method comprising: determininga plurality of content sources from which a content item is availablefor consumption; determining, based on whether the content item isavailable from the plurality of content sources as a free item or as atransactional item, an order of the plurality of content sources; andgenerating for display an identifier of the content item and a pluralityof respective identifiers of the plurality of content sources, whereinthe respective identifiers of the plurality of content sources arearranged in the determined order.
 36. The method of claim 35, whereinthe content item is available as the transactional item, furthercomprising generating for display, in response to a user selection ofthe identifier of the content item, a prompt to purchase or rent thecontent item.
 37. The method of claim 35, further comprising:determining that the content item is unavailable from a content sourceof the plurality of content sources; and visually distinguishing an iconcorresponding to the content source to indicate unavailability from thecontent source.
 38. The method of claim 37, wherein visuallydistinguishing the icon comprises graying out the icon.
 39. The methodof claim 35, wherein the generating for display comprises generating fordisplay the plurality of the respective identifiers on a device of theuser.
 40. A system for presenting availability information, the systemcomprising: processing circuitry configured to: determine a plurality ofcontent sources from which a content item is available for consumption;and determine, based on frequency of use of each content source of theplurality of content sources by a user, an order of the plurality ofcontent sources; and communications circuitry configured to generate fordisplay an identifier of the content item and a plurality of respectiveidentifiers of the plurality of content sources, wherein the respectiveidentifiers are arranged in the determined order.
 41. The system ofclaim 40, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:determine that the content item is unavailable from a content source ofthe plurality of content sources; and visually distinguish an iconcorresponding to the content source to indicate unavailability from thecontent source.
 42. The system of claim 41, wherein the processingcircuitry is configured to visually distinguish the icon by graying outthe icon.
 43. The system of claim 40, wherein the communicationscircuitry is configured to generate for display by generating fordisplay the plurality of the respective identifiers on a device of theuser.